In the drilling and completion phases in exploring for oil and gas, pipe tongs have been utilized for engaging lengths of casing, drill or completion pipe, known generally as tubular members, end to end, by rig floor personnel operating power tongs directly and in close proximity to the tubulars on the rig floor. A typical casing power tong comprises a set of jaws to make up or break up the joint. The power tongs may weigh a few thousand pounds and are usually supported from the rig by a cable that allows the power tong to be moved manually by the rig floor personnel to engage the pipe, or disengage from the pipe, and be positioned away from the pipe string, to allow other work to proceed. The power tong is connected on the one end to the rig cable.
However, because of the size of the power tongs, more than a single individual, often times two or three men, are required to move the tong into position, and operate the tong to make up or break the joint, and then to manually swing the tong, hanging from the cable, out of the way, and engage it in a position away from the pipe, so that the rig personnel can proceed to other chores. This manual operation of the tong in and out of position must be done with care, since the tong, swinging free from the cable, may strike one of the workers, or inadvertently disengage from its position and injure workers or damage materials on the rig floor.